The awards below are equation-guided and have been awarded by FightMatrix to fighters, based on their career results and its relation to the FightMatrix rating system.

Older awards were populated retroactively at their creation, using a manner similar to that in which we’d use for future awards. In these cases, the text will be presented in italics.

Keep in mind, that annual awards strictly adhere to the calendar year. This is especially important for the “fighter of the year” awards where things like rank position are considered.

FightMatrix Fighters of the Year

The “Fighter of the Year” award looks back on the entire year as a whole and the fighters’ ranking position held and performances within it. Further credit given for type of wins, and activity.

Year

Winner

Runner-Up

3rd Place

1993

Royce Gracie

Ken Shamrock

Masakatsu Funaki

1994

Ken Shamrock

Royce Gracie

Manabu Yamada

1995

Ken Shamrock (#2)

Bas Rutten

Dan Severn

1996

Bas Rutten

Jay R. Palmer

Masakatsu Funaki

1997

Masakatsu Funaki

Bas Rutten

Yuki Kondo

1998

Frank Shamrock

Semmy Schilt

Guy Mezger

1999

Semmy Schilt

Kazushi Sakuraba

Matt Hughes

2000

Nate Marquardt

Alexandre Franca Nogueira

Tito Ortiz

2001

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Tito Ortiz

Alexandre Franca Nogueira

2002M

Matt Hughes

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Murilo Bustamante

2002F

Yuka Tsuji

–

–

2003M

Fedor Emelianenko

Randy Couture

Matt Hughes

2003F

Jennifer Howe

–

–

2004M

B.J. Penn

Fedor Emelianenko

Matt Hughes

2004F

Yuka Tsuji (#2)

Megumi Yabushita

Roxanne Modafferi

2005M

Takanori Gomi

Mauricio Rua

Matt Hughes

2005F

Yuka Tsuji (#3)

Hisae Watanabe

Satoko Shinashi

2006M

Chuck Liddell

Fedor Emelianenko

Shinichi Kojima

2006F

Tara LaRosa

Hisae Watanabe

Megumi Fujii

2007M

Anderson Silva

Quinton Jackson

Randy Couture

2007F

Tara LaRosa (#2)

Megumi Fujii

Yuka Tsuji

2008M

Anderson Silva (#2)

Miguel Torres

Thiago Alves

2008F

Megumi Fujii

Gina Carano

Cristiane Justino

2009M

Georges St. Pierre

Lyoto Machida

Mike Brown

2009F

Tara LaRosa (#3)

Megumi Fujii

Sarah Kaufman

2010M

Georges St. Pierre (#2)

Jose Aldo

Dominick Cruz

2010F

Cristiane Justino

Megumi Fujii

Sarah Kaufman

2011M

Jon Jones

Anderson Silva

Frankie Edgar

2011F

Naho Sugiyama

Miesha Tate

Sarah Kaufman

2012M

Ben Henderson

Jon Jones

Cain Velasquez

2012F

Ronda Rousey

Ayaka Hamasaki

Jessica Penne

2013M

Demetrious Johnson

Chris Weidman

Cain Velasquez

2013F

Ronda Rousey (#2)

Barb Honchak

Cristiane Justino

2014M

Jose Aldo

Demetrious Johnson

Robbie Lawler

2014F

Ronda Rousey (#3)

Jessica Aguilar

Herica Tiburcio

2015M

Conor McGregor

Rafael dos Anjos

Demetrious Johnson

2015F

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Holly Holm

Cristiane Justino

2016M

Stipe Miocic

Michael Bisping

Demetrious Johnson

2016F

Amanda Nunes

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Cristiane Justino

2017F

Cristiane Justino

Rose Namajunas

Livia Renata Souza

2017M

Demetrious Johnson (tie)

Max Holloway (tie)

Tyron Woodley

.

FightMatrix Most Improved Fighter of the Year

Year

Fighter

2011

Michael Chandler

2012

Joshua Sampo

2013

Albert Tumenov

2014

Tom Gallicchio

2015

Alex Morono

2016

Emil Weber Meek

2017

Volkan Oezdemir

Based on increase in rank (and points as a tie-breaker) from the end of the previous year.

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FightMatrix Comeback Fighter of the Year

Year

Fighter

2011

Shinichi Kojima

2012

Georges St. Pierre

2013

Ryan LaFlare

2014

Tito Ortiz

2015

Sergio Moraes

2016

Dominick Cruz

2017

Georges St. Pierre (#2)

Fighters must be in an active status at the end of the award year and did not have a fight in the previous calendar year or are coming off of injury that caused an inactive period of 15+ months.

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FightMatrix Rookies of the Year

One men’s fighter prior to 2010. One men’s and one women’s fighter for 2010 and after.

Year

Fighter

1995

Ricardo Morais

1996

Jay R. Palmer

1997

Randy Couture

1998

Sergio Melo

1999

Mamoru Yamaguchi

2000

Kazuyuki Fujita

2001

B.J. Penn

2002

Yoshinori Momose

2003

Ansar Chalangov

2004

Mark Hunt

2005

Jake Ellenberger

2006

Jamal Patterson

2007

Bryan Baker

2008

Jon Jones

2009

Joe Warren

2010

Cole Konrad (M) / Liz Carmouche (F)

2011

Sultan Aliev (M) / Ronda Rousey (F)

2012

Smealinho Rama (M) / Joanne Calderwood (F)

2013

Steve Mocco (M) / Livia Renata Souza (F)

2014

Chris de la Rocha (M) / Jessica Miele (F)

2015

Sergey Pavlovich (M) / Cristina Stanciu (F)

2016

Jose Torres (M) / Gabi Garcia (F)

2017

Shamil Avirov (M) / Liliya Shakirova (F)

Prior to 2011, fighter must debut in and have three pro fights in the calendar year. In 2011, rules changed to allow fighter to have a maximum of 1 pro fight in the year previous to award year. This fight would also count toward the three pro fight requirement.

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FightMatrix Most Noteworthy Match of Year

Analyzed at year-end, looking back at the most noteworthy match of the year based on cumulative rank strength of the involved fighters.

I am curious what led to some of the changes on the Fighter of the Year list. How did Fedor Emelianenko go from being Fighter of the Year for 2005 to not being in the top 3? I think I am remembering yesterday’s list correctly.